How To Setup A Winning Shopify Store [One That Generates Sales]

After working on your business idea or existing operation, you’ve decided that Shopify is the platform that you wish to use to launch. Excellent choice! As a leader in the space, it allows most businesses to launch their online store and integrate with other platforms such as Facebook or Google Shopping with ease. Beyond that, Shopify offers simple payment solutions through its internal payment processor and easy shipping options. While getting started at first may seem simple there are some important factors to consider to set up a winning Shopify store. While these may seem minor at first, getting them right can contribute greatly to your success. In this post, we’ll be providing a guide of how to setup a winning Shopify store.

1. Store Design & Layout

Shopify allows you to design your store in a number of ways. Starting out you have the choice of either using free themes, paid themes, or page builders to develop your store. The free & paid themes are fairly similar however require some knowledge of HTML / CSS code in order to be able to set up beyond their stock look. If you’re unfamiliar with these languages or are unable to commit the time to learn, you’ll be best off working with a capable developer. Small changes such as font size, or sizing/spacing elements are difficult to achieve without some code. If you’re willing to learn and experiment, setting up a store using the stock themes is definitely possible. Paid themes are also worth exploring as they offer additional performance and customization options as well for a one-time investment.

Beyond the themes, there is also the option of using builders such as PageFly or Shogun. These offer simpler no-code building options for a monthly fee. However, from our experiences the performance of sites built on these platforms are not as strong as native themes. Working with them may also prove difficult as some components of the theme you’ve chosen remain. This in our experiences can cause compatibility issues which can be difficult to solve.

2. Review Platforms

With the rise of search engines and social media platforms, more customers are making decisions based on product reviews. How often have you shopped on Amazon and made a purchase decision based on reviews? Make sure you give your shoppers the information they need to make a purchase. While Shopify does offer its own review application, we recommend looking at some of the other options first. In our experiences, we’ve enjoyed working with the Judge.me app, as it’s relatively easy to implement and offers a great free option. Other options such as Loox may be a great fit if you’re looking for users to share photos with their reviews.

Judge.me allows for each purchaser to be emailed request a review of your product a certain amount of time after purchase. This saves you time from requesting reviews manually and ensures a regular stream of feedback. Depending on your store’s design, it may take some configuration to ensure that the reviews and ratings are showing where you’d like them.

3. Email Automation Tools

An easy way to boost conversions for prospective customers and improve repeat visitor rates is through email automation. Tools such as Seguno and Klaviyo allow you to send automated and personalized email messages to your customers. Whether you wish to remind them about the cart that they’ve abandoned or recommend a few products after their initial purchase. You can set it and forget it with both apps. While these won’t make a massive difference to your store’s performance at launch, as your list of customers continues to grow the compounding effects can be massive.

4. The Right Product Selection

With consumer preferences and tastes changing faster than ever before staying informed is vital. Tools such as FindNiche can provide valuable insights as to what is performing well on other stores in your niche. Their tool combines sales analytics from multiple channels such as AliExpress, Amazon, and Shopify to help you understand what is performing well. If you are looking for even more inspiration check out Shopify’s guide on how to find a product to sell online or FindNiche’s guide on how successful Shopify stores achieved success. As an example of finding a niche product that serves a specific market, check out The Namesake Box.

5. Easy Payment Processing

When it comes to eCommerce performance, you want to make it as easy as possible for customers to check out. Shopify has many great built-in options, however, if you’re also selling in-person be sure to check out our post on Business Payment Solutions in Canada. Ideally, you want to streamline the process as much as possible for the customer by adding options such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.

How to Setup a Winning Shopify Store? Get Started Today

While all of these details may seem overwhelming at first, if you’re reading this far you’re in the right place. With proper planning, you can build a store that can sustain your business growth for the long term. If you’re looking for a partner to help you along the way, be sure to reach out to our team or learn more about our capabilities here. Contact us today and we’ll be glad to audit your existing Shopify store or put a plan in place to help you build one of your dreams. We hope you found this guide on how to setup a winning Shopify store helpful!